Wednesday, October 12, 2005

Wed - Time Warner board under fire again

Carl Icahn, the billionaire activist shareholder, has stepped up his criticism of Time Warner's board and Dick Parsons, Chairman and CEO.

Icahn is now complaining about the composition of the Time Warner board, saying that it still has too many people who were around when the fated merger with AOL was concluded. He would like to see fresh blood on the board.

He also seems concerned that Warner Music was sold at a discount and now depriving Time Warner of an important asset.

Time Warner's next AGM is in May 2006. Dick Parsons has until then to put in place effective strategies to keep shareholders at bay. Making more of a success of AOL and possibly securing some kind of partnership for the ISP/portal, such as with MSN, as well as raising Time Warners share price are essential steps.